Sequel Rumorville: More Snake, Angels?

Today's sequel rumors involve two franchises, one beloved and the other profitable. The first is the Snake Plissken saga, which began with the cult classic Escape from New York, and was later revived with the not-great (but excusable because, you know, it's Snake) Escape from L.A. According to a report at Blood Disgusting, Snake may just be escaping again in the near future -- their tipster claims that "A major meeting was held at Paramount last week with both John Carpenter and Kurt Russell in attendance." Supposedly, the screenplay (which is called Escape from Earth -- is it possible to jump the shark just from a title?) was completed years ago, but Paramount wasn't interested until Russell told them he'd only sign a new, three-picture deal if they made another Escape first. Hmm. Really? Russell's a good, quiet actor when he's allowed to play a normal guy, but why on earth would signing him be so important that Paramount would sink cash into a movie they've got no reason to believe would turn a profit, particularly since Escape from LA was a loser for them? Neither Plissken nor Russell is exactly box office gold.

The other sequel being discussed, however, is pretty much guaranteed to make money: Charlie's Angels 3. According to Moviehole, Sky News is reporting that producer Drew Barrymore is hell-bent on keeping the series going, whether Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz -- not to mention director McG -- come back or not. Frankly, it's hard to think of reasons that Columbia wouldn't make this film eventually -- even the second one, which cost about $120 million and currently has as rating below five at the IMDb, took in over $250 million worldwide. What's not to like?